Lawyers apologize for Claude-made quotes in a federal layoffs case

Unions are suing the Trump administration in San Francisco federal court over mass layoffs. A former Homeland Security official fought a subpoena to be questioned about cuts at FEMA. His lawyers at Binnall Law Group filed an emergency motion on May 6, 2026. A partner had drafted it with Anthropic's Claude Console under time pressure, his first time using AI for a brief. An associate checked it, but three quotations attributed to real cases appeared nowhere in them. Judge Susan Illston ordered the lawyers to explain under oath. On May 15, three of them filed apologies. The partner took full responsibility, and the firm promised more training on verifying citations.